Kitten! and other exciting things

So, it’s been a while. I’ve had limited internet access, but I’ve also been at a loss for what to write.

So, the basics. I have a kitten! She’s almost 3 months (born April 4th), and her name is Tara. She is extremely friendly, though has decided that my mosquito net is perfect for ‘chasing’ especially at night, and that books are great for scratching, or sleeping on. Which is adorable, except when I’m trying to use them for lesson plans. I’m so glad to have her though; I never realized how lonely it is to be by yourself so much. My neighbors think I’m a little crazy, though the youngest, Jerry, just adores her. He loves animals of all kinds, and she’s a small tiger to him. He’s still a little nervous around her, but they’re both getting used to each other.

The other news is that the school has a guitar. I just got a tuner in Kampala, and some sheet music and a book with some chords. I’ve managed G, C, D, A, and E so far. It takes me about a min to go from one chord to the next, but with those five chords I can play Wagon Wheel, which my neighbors will soon be very sick of. It’s a really calming to be able to play when I have downtime, and is a little bit of home.

My house is currently ‘under construction’. They’re putting a sizeable addition onto the back portion (a sitting room, bathroom, and two bed rooms) as well as an outdoor kitchen and a latrine (which I love, by the way. I’m sick of how much water the flush toilet wastes). I’ve never seen a building go in so fast, the whole thing from start to finish is going to take less than a month, and that includes digging the pit latrine, by hand. The rush is due to the fast-approaching arrival of 15-20 secondary students and their chaperones from our link school in England. They’ll be in country for a couple of weeks and will spend a week or so at the school; going to classes, doing some projects, eating Ugandan food, and getting to see the area. It’s the talk of the school. That and the athletic competitions, Minister of Education’s visit, netball tournament, mock exams, and the head teacher’s trip to the U.K. It’s been pretty busy, to say the least.

Athletics: each term has a different ‘sport’. 1st term was ball sports (netball, football, and volleyball), 2nd term is athletics (track and field) and 3rd term is music and drama (because the candidate classes – S.4 and S.6 – sit exams in November, and I guess music and drama take less time from studying…something like that). For each sport there are interhouse competitions (we have 6 houses, kinda like Harry Potter houses). Houses send their best students to each race; the winners go to district competitions and from there to national competitions. For sports like football, I think they pick the best players to represent the school, though I’m not sure as that was back in Feb/Mar before I got here. Anyways, this meant a field-day-esq event with 100m, 200m, 400m, 5km, 10km, 4X100m relay, 4X400m relay, javelin, long jump, high jump, discus, and some other events I don’t remember. It was a lot of fun, but scary to see the students after the long races. They couldn’t stand on their own, and had to be carried to the table to report their placement. The students barely train for the events, most don’t eat lunch, and they’re running in the hot sun. These are tough kids.

Minister of Education: there are two new blocks that just got built for the S.1 students in our school. With USE (see earlier posts), the number of students is increasing rapidly, and so the school got government money to build new blocks. Friday (6/26) the Minister came and was part of a big opening ceremony for the new buildings. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to an All Volunteer Conference (which was awesome, so while I was really bummed to miss out, it was worth it). So, I have no clue how the whole thing went. I was sorry to not see the minister. She’s been in office forever (since Obote, if not Amin, which is 20+ years) and is supposed to be really good.

Netball tournament: just like the football tournament, though closer (Mbale, opposed to Fort Portal). So, netball: the best way I have found to describe it is ultimate Frisbee with a basket ball, on a basketball court, except the hoops don’t have back boards. At least, that’s what I understand so far. I still haven’t gotten to play, and don’t know all the rules. A lot of the football girls also play netball, so they haven’t been playing football at all. I talked to one of the girls, and I’m hoping to start up with them this week, now that netball will be over. Maybe 2-3 days a week for a couple hours? We’ll see how it goes.

Mock exams: They’re for S.4 and S.6 to start preparing them for the exams in November. Kinda like we take PSATs, except that they’re written by teachers. So, a lot of the teachers are busy writing the exams, and all the candidate classes (I’m not sure whether S.5 students take mocks, hmmm…) are busy studying. My neighbors – Barbara, Jennifer, Oscar, and Dennis work so hard. They’re up at 5 studying, mop at 6, go to school around 7, come home 5/6ish, clean, cook, and go for night preps (studying) around 7/7:30, and then got to sleep around 10/11. And the candidate classes study on the weekends, so they have almost no free time. They make me feel lazy.

All Volunteer Conference: 3 full days of sessions on everything from HIV/AIDs to TAP (technology against poverty) to alternative discipline to grad school and everything in between. Many of the sessions were run by PCVs, which meant they were very applicable to what we’re doing. And just talking to the PCVs who’ve been here a while about their experiences and how they’ve dealt with various situations was very helpful. We also got to stay at this posh hotel with a swimming pool. And hanging out with other PCVs is always a good time. The people here are wonderful.

Anyways, this post has gotten really long, and I’ve been sitting as this computer for way too much time. Hellos to everyone! Please do send me letters/emails/whatever, I feel out of touch with what everyone’s up to.

Becky Starts Teaching

It will be a couple more weeks before Becky gets reasonable internet access so I thought I’d update the blog with some general facts.

Becky has now been teaching for two weeks. She has a couple of classes of introductory biology (9th grade), ecology (12th grade), and genetics (13th grade – it’s a school based on the British system). The Ugandan school system has required some adjustments, but she seems to be enjoying the teaching. Teaching and class planning and preparation have kept her very busy.

Becky’s also settling into her house. She’s been shopping for things such as shelves and glass jars with lids to store food. Cooking is mostly on a propane stove, but she found a charcoal burner which she uses for baking bread (in a Dutch oven) and other things that take a long time. This week’s culinary accomplishment was making peanut butter with a friend – starting with “g-nuts” which were dried, roasted, and smashed with a mortar and pestle. A mortar and pestle are now on her shopping list.

Barbara